SCC Monthly Newsletter

Standards Council of Canada

SCC’s World Standards Day 2018: An Environment of Innovation

2018-10-29

The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) celebrated World Standards Day (WSD) 2018 during and event on October 4, 2018, in Ottawa. In conjunction with the event, SCC held its Annual Public Meeting and presented Canada’s national awards in standardization—the SCC Awards.

SCC’s Annual Public Meeting

Every year, SCC holds an Annual Public Meeting (APM) to outline some of our accomplishments of the past year and talk about the direction we’re heading as an organization. This year’s address was delivered by SCC Council Chair Kathy Milsom, who highlighted SCC’s role as the leader of Canada’s standardization network.

Ms. Milsom emphasized the important work SCC is doing to ensure we provide this country with the support it needs to fully leverage the opportunities of standardization. She focused on the pursuit of SCC’s three strategic priorities of innovation, Canadian leadership and strengthening our organizational excellence.

“In today’s globalized world, innovation is the path to economic growth—it drives economies. That’s why SCC is working hard to create an environment of innovation in Canada—because we know it’s key to fostering a thriving middle class and opening the doors to new economic, social and environmental possibilities.”

2018 SCC Awards

Every two years, SCC presents Canada's national awards in standardization. These awards recognize the commitment of individuals, organizations and committees who dedicate their time and expertise in support of Canada’s national standardization network. For 2018, SCC Council Chair Kathy Milsom and SCC CEO Chantal Guay recognized the following winners:

Those nominated for these awards play an essential role in making our standardization network what it is today. They support our quest to create a strong and adaptable network that responds to the needs of stakeholders and fuels innovation to help Canada compete globally.”

-Kathy Milsom, SCC Council Chair

Keynotes on the value of standards

For the World Standards Day portion of the event, SCC was delighted to welcome keynote presentations from two prominent industry leaders within Canada’s innovation and standardization ecosystem: The Honourable Sergio Marchi, President and CEO of the Canadian Electricity Association, and Leah Lawrence, President and CEO of Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC).

In his address, Mr. Marchi underlined how standards help support safety, reliability, adaptability and innovativeness in the electrical sector. The climate is changing, and Mr. Marchi talked about how standards are ensuring that critical updates to Canada’s electrical infrastructure are done with that in mind.

As the national voice of the electricity sector in Canada, the Canadian Electricity Association has an intimate knowledge of the powerful and positive contributions standards make in our industry. Standards are the foundation of our industry, from power generation to customer service to health and safety."

-The Honourable Sergio Marchi, President and CEO, Canadian Electricity Association

Ms. Lawrence focused on how standardization can help innovative companies—in particular, those within the clean technology sector—scale up and grow their businesses. SCC and SDTC have a strong relationship in leveraging standardization to support cleantech innovators, and to date SDTC has referred 22 of their client companies to SCC’s Innovation Program.

Standardization also allows us to streamline and limit red tape to increase efficiencies. When designed thoughtfully and applied appropriately, they should allow our great minds to spend more of their precious time creating new ideas, building exceptional products and services, and accessing new markets."

-Leah Lawrence, President and CEO, Sustainable Technology Development Canada

Panel discussion on innovation and standardization

To bring a first-hand account of how standardization supports Canadian businesses, we convened a panel of three innovators to discuss their work with SCC. The panel, moderated by Blair Feltmate of the University of Waterloo’s Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, included: